A Comparative Study of Traditional Instruction Versus Experimental Instruction

A comparative research study is being conducted at Vanderbilt University, School of Engineering (VUSE) in the “Introduction to Digital Logic” course during the 2003-2004 academic year. The course is accompanied by a laboratory component. This comparative study examines the traditional instructional approach and an experimental approach. The sections with experimental instruction receive instruction through a combination of lecturing, active learning exercises, collaborative learning exercises, and peer instruction exercises. The sections with traditional instruction primarily receive lecture-based instruction. Surveys from students, instructors, and teaching assistants provide a means of constantly measuring the effectiveness of the instructional method being employed. A comparative analysis is performed on the traditional and the experimental methods of instruction. The study evaluates the students’ performance, attitude toward their instruction, retention, success rate, failure rate, and confidence levels of students in both the traditionally taught sections and the modified instruction sections. Through this study, strategies are provided on how to maintain effective experimental instruction sections beyond this research study. This paper presents the underlying methodologies of the study and some initial results obtained during the Fall semester 2003.